Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont is a 2005 US-produced comedy-drama film based on the 1971 novel by Elizabeth Taylor. It was directed by Dan Ireland and produced by Lee Caplin, Carl Colpaert and Zachary Matz from a screenplay by Ruth Sacks Caplin. The film stars Joan Plowright and Rupert Friend, with Zoë Tapper, Anna Massey, Robert Lang, Marcia Warren, Georgina Hale, Millicent Martin, Michael Culkin and Anna Carteret. It is the final film role of Robert Lang, who died on November 6, 2004, a year before its release. The film is dedicated to his memory.

Plot

All but abandoned by her family in a London retirement hotel, Mrs Palfrey (Joan Plowright) strikes up a curious friendship with a young writer, Ludovic Meyer (Rupert Friend). Fate brings them together after she has an accident outside his basement flat. The two newly found friends discover they have much more in common with each other than they do with people their own age. Ludovic inadvertently leads Mrs. Palfrey through her past; Mrs. Palfrey inadvertently leads Ludovic to his future.

Book

The 2005 film is based on the 1971 novel entitled Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor.

Television play

The novel was dramatised in 1973 as part of the BBC series Play for Today, with Celia Johnson playing Mrs Palfrey.

Cast